Wash Heights Street Co-Named To Honor Local Woman Slain By Partner

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A Washington Heights street will be co-named in honor of a neighborhood resident who was killed by her partner in April of 2021.

The intersection of Audubon Avenue and West 167th Street on Saturday will be co-named Ramona Elizabeth Rodriguez Way. It is the street where she lived for many years in Washington Heights.

"This horrific act shook the Washington Heights community, but her family, in their grief, used this as an opportunity to establish Long Live Our Butterfly, where domestic violence prevention and education could change the lives of others," Council Member Carmen De La Rosa said in a news release.

The co-naming ceremony will take place at 2 p.m.

German Reynoso, 57, was arrested and charged with murder in June 2021 of his longtime girlfriend Rodriguez. He admitted to the killing in a note left on a table in their apartment.

Rodriguez was a mother of two and a grandmother to several. She was found dead in her bathtub at the end of April 2021 with gunshot and stab wounds.

"After years of living under the shadow of domestic violence, she decided to break-free and embark upon a journey of self-discovery," reads a petition created She was determined to reclaim her self-worth and happiness by distancing herself from the entity which drained her self-esteem. In true, and expected behavior, her abuser lost control when he realized that she could live without him.

De La Rosa says the co-naming will serve as a "powerful reminder to the community that domestic violence is not tolerated."